Obama to decide on arming Syrian rebels

  • 11 years ago
As fighting intensifies outside of Syria's largest city Aleppo --- Washington announced President Obama will probably make a decision about whether to arm rebels this week.

SOUNDBITE: U.S. State Department Spokesman Jen Psaki saying:

Department Spokewoman Jen Psaki saying:

"A wider range of options have been prepared for the president's consideration and internal meetings to discuss the situation on the ground have worsened. That is frankly concerning."

Also worrying to the U.S. and Israel are signs of Hezbollah and Iran's involvement in the Syrian civil war --- most notably helping President Bashar al Assad's forces capture the strategic town of Quasir.

With that level of international backing, many speculate that Assad will be even less likely to handover power.

It isn't clear at this point what form the U.S.'s support could take but the move to even considering lethal aid, underscores mounting concern about the stability of the region.